Page 156 - Marky Stein - Fearless Career Change_ The Fast Track to Success in a New Field (2004)

Fearless Career Change

❑ It is all right to repeat items from your summary in the body
of the résumé.
❑ There are no more than six and no fewer than two bullets
under each job heading.
❑ You never refer to yourself in the first person. The words I,
me, and myself are not part of the résumé.
❑ The résumé is written with Times New Roman or Arial style font
in 11- or 12-point size. It should be printed on simple white,
cream, or gray paper. No colors, pastels, or special textures
other than résumé bond or plain copy paper should be
used.
❑ The résumé is one to two pages, never more than two pages.
(The exception to this is if you have a large number of scien-
tific publications and/or patents. In that case, submit them as
addendum on a separate sheet of paper, after asking whether
or not the hiring authority wants to see them.)

Radical Career Changes

If you’re making a drastic career change—say, from attorney to
fashion designer—I recommend that you still use the same format
as above, but you should make some important alterations in the
summary statement section of your résumé.
Unless you are using the tactic of Just Dive In!, it is likely that
to hasten your transition, you’ve enrolled in a strategic education
course, have started or even completed a certification program in
your new field, and/or had the benefit of an internship or volun-
teer position.
Since we already know that employers are likely to get only a
three- to seven-second “snapshot” of the first few lines of your
résumé, it’s imperative that you build strategies like internship,
short-term education, and strategic education right into the sum-
mary statement at the beginning of the résumé so that they will see
that you’re already a “player” in their game.
Things that place you on the same playing field are experience
(even if it’s only in an academic or volunteer setting); specific state-
ments about some areas in which you have concrete, immediately
usable skills; or personal qualities that would reflect favorably on

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